Stand Down
by ilovetoread38
Summary: Slightly AU. When Steve and Tony are taken before a mission, the rest of the Avengers are determined to find them, but it proves nearly impossible when they are found to be kidnapped by one of the most powerful superhero organizations in the world. So what does an organization like S.T.R.I.K.E. want with the Super Soldier Serum? Steve/Natasha romance, Steve/Tony friendship.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm back! Finally finals and graduation are done with, and I can focus on writing again! This one's going to be a short story, probably four or five chapters, but it's got a lot of Easter Eggs in it and it sets up for another story. It's Steve/Natasha (because I love them!) but that won't be the main focus. Lots of bromance. Without further ado:**

**Stand Down: Chapter One**

Tony Stark grits his teeth as he tinkers with a screw on the new suit's arm, watching as the fingers flex spasmodically. He sighs and adjusts it further. He has spent three hours today trying to get the gauntlet to function like an extension of his actual arm, but so far nothing has worked. After forty-two suits, he should be getting used to this. He tries to point one finger but instead it activates the repulsors on the palm and a blast of light almost knocks him on his feet. When the dust and smoke clears, he sees a hole in the wall in front of him that gives him a view of an empty lab. Thank god he had the foresight to leave a whole floor to Ironman development so that he could work alone.

But now he's annoyed.

"Stupid, _frigging_, arm!" Tony yells. "Off! Get off!"

He tries to shake it off, but the mechanical arm turns against him and punches him in the face. "Ahh, Jarvis! A little help!" he screams as he uses his free hand to clutch his eye. Damn, he always forgets how much metal on bare skin hurts.

"Powering down now, sir," says Jarvis, a bit smugly.

"Smartass computer," mutters Tony. The hunk of metal falls off his arm, and he kicks it away in disgust. "Better late than never, Jarvis."

"My thoughts exactly, sir."

Tony opens his mouth to retort when he hears a chuckle come from the doorway. He turns to find Steve Rogers leaning against the doorframe, clad in jeans and a T-shirt with his arms crossed and smiling. "What's up, Rogers?"

Steve gestures to the wall. "Do your experiments always end like this?"

"No."

"Actually, sir, explosions and other minor catastrophes result from your experiments 93.45% of the time," chimes Jarvis helpfully.

"See, proved my point."

Steve shakes his head and laughs. "What happened to your eye?"

"None of your business, Captain AARP." He picks up the hunk of metal that is supposed to be his new gauntlet and tosses it among the rest of the scrap metal. "Why are you dressed like a college kid? We all know you're ninety. No reason to try to play it cool."

Steve rolls his eyes. Pushing off the doorway and striding over to Stark, he replies, "It's for an undercover mission. You know, the mission we're supposed to be briefed for _now_?"

Tony's eyes get wide. "Shit. Jarvis, you were _supposed_ _to remind me_ about that!"

"Sir, I issued seventeen alerts, all of which you ignored. Your precise phrasing the last time was, 'Jarvis, if you don't f-'"

"Okay, okay, you gave me enough warnings," says Tony quickly. He turns to Steve. "How pissed is Fury?"

Steve shrugs and tinkers with the keyboard to the computer. Tony tenses but lucky Rogers doesn't actually know how to work his newest computer design. Steve's still playing around with all the Apple crap that Natasha bought him just to piss Tony off. That woman can be a real bitch if she doesn't like you. "Not particularly. He sent me to give you your assignment."

"Really? What is it?"

"Computer technician." Steve grins.

"Bastard."

"Relax, Tony, he hasn't given out assignments to anyone but me and Nat. But it looks like you're gonna be behind the scenes on this one. Your face is too well known."

"Oh, the plight of being a world renowned genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

"Woe is you," Steve agrees, "But we should get going now. You're almost an hour late and I told Fury I'd get you there in fifteen minutes."

"How long ago was that?" asks Tony, grabbing his jacket off one of the chairs. A piece of the damned arm clings to the hem, and Tony rips it off. "Stupid suit."

"About eleven minutes ago."

"Damn. Jarvis, bring in Mark 40. We're going to need speed to get to that helicarrier."

Tony backs away from Steve so that Steve won't get hit in the head by a piece of armor when the suit envelops him. Tony waits for the metal to encase him . . .

And waits . . .

And waits.

"Stark?" says Steve, worriedly.

"Jarvis, any day now," calls Tony, annoyed. He's supposed to be able to suit up in ten seconds. He really needs to update his AI if this is the performance he receives. It's pitiful. He did _not_ program wallowing into the system.

"Stark," says Steve, coming closer to him. He reaches out and touches his arm, but Tony brushes him off, annoyed.

Still no Ironman suit. This is getting ridiculous. "Really, Jarvis? I'm sorry I told you to fuck off, but this is stupid. I need the suit!"

"Tony!" Steve whispers harshly, yanking him down to the ground. "There are people in here."

"What? That's impossible – the labs are closed for today and –"

Steve slaps a hand over his mouth and presses Tony's head down to the floor so that his ear brushes the flat ground. "Listen."

It takes a moment, but then he hears it: a soft booming sound that he associates with footsteps on concrete. Steve hauls Tony across the floor to hide underneath the desk, and Tony is compliant. _Who the fuck_ is _that?_ Tony thinks wildly as he hears the faint pitter-patter grow nearer. He thinks for a fleeting moment that it might be all of the interns that Stark Industries has hired trying to get some work done, but then he listens closely and hears people almost silently moving in the air ducts. There are no interns in the building – there is _no one_ in the building except for himself and Steve. At least, there's not _supposed_ to be anyone in the building besides him and Steve. Natasha and Clint are at the briefing, Thor's with Jane in New Mexico, and Banner's off saving starving children in Uruguay or something like that. No one should be here.

They are under attack.

His first thought is that they are terrorists. It's New York City, for god's sake, and he's Tony Stark, for god's sake. He used to be one of the biggest weapons dealers in the world, and isn't that how this whole superhero thing got started in the first place? Plus, now that he's on the Avengers, and he's one of the only team members to have an open identity. The entire world knows who Tony Stark is, but who really knows Clint Barton? No one. If terrorists are coming after his team, they're targeting Tony first.

But it can't be terrorists. Terrorists aren't sly, they aren't quiet. They destroy things and cause as much visible damage as possible. In his panic-ridden mind, Tony realizes that this must be better planned than a simple terrorist act. They _shut off Jarvis._ _No one _shuts off Jarvis. Tony thought that only he and God himself had the power to shut of Jarvis. They are under attack, and it looks like some pretty intelligent people planned the whole thing.

Tony suddenly feels naked without the protection of the Ironman suit. He's simply himself – Tony Stark, a genius for sure, but not anyone physically intimidating – and without the sleek metal and limitless capabilities of his suit, he can't do anything. He's a superhero, damn it, but without Ironman, he's leaving Steve to fight off however many people there are in the building. Ain't that demeaning?

Tony looks at Steve and sees that in his jeans and tee, he doesn't look too intimidating either. God, they're goners even if Steve looks pretty pissed off right now.

Oh, wait, he's pissed off at _Tony_.

"Stark," says Steve, shaking him a little, "Focus. Do you have an emergency staircase or elevator or something? We need to get out of here. It sounds like there are tons of people. Too many to fight by ourselves."

Sure enough, Tony hears people entering the floor they are on. They have five minutes tops. This is not good.

Tony shakes his head. "If Jarvis is down, the elevators are down. He's programmed to withstand power outages, for Christ's sake. And the only staircase is currently being used by the mob of people attacking us."

Steve sighs and furrows his brow. He crouches on his heels and peeks over the top of the desk. "Damn. They're almost here. It looks like there's over fifty of them, and they're coming from the ceiling, too!"

Tony cringes. Why does he have to remind him of how easy to penetrate his building is? He didn't build it to be this way. His tower and Jarvis are supposed to be indestructible. _Who are these people_?

Steve looks back at him. "Do you remember how to use a gun? A little different from a repulsor." Damn him, he's joking around right now, and he's dressed like a frigging NYU student and he's taking out two guns and it all just looks so wrong. He looks too young to be strategizing for a battle.

Shit, he doesn't even look like Captain America.

He can't fight like that.

Not in jeans.

"Steve, you can't fight," Tony says, pushing his arms down. "You're in jeans."

"What do you mean, Stark?" Steve asks, annoyed and flabbergasted. Steve never backs down from a fight. "Who cares if I'm in jeans? We can't do nothing! They're going to kill us!"

Tony shakes his head. He hears footsteps rapidly approaching and knows he doesn't have much time. "Steve, stand down. They won't kill us. There are simpler ways to do that than hacking into my system and planning a sneak attack. They don't want you, otherwise they wouldn't be at my tower. They want me, and they can't know you're Captain America. No one knows who Steve Rogers is. Don't let them capture two superheroes."

"Tony. . ."

The footsteps slow and Tony knows that they've been caught. He knows he's doling out orders to his commanding officer, but he doesn't give a shit right now. "Stand down."

Rogers nods and Tony sags against the desk, relieved. He looks up to find at least a hundred people in black suits surrounding them. At the front stands a man with brown hair and a goatee, smiling and looking at Tony with a glint in his eyes. Around him, every person has a gun pointed at his face. Tony sighs. This is it. They've got him.

"Well, Mr. Stark," he says in a smooth voice with an English accent, "You certainly are a hard man to get a hold of."

* * *

"Some-one's la-ate" Clint sing-songs under his breath. He's chuckling to himself and Natasha turns to glare at him. "What? We've been waiting forever."

"There's no need to be childish about it. We're prepping for a mission. Focus."

"Let's tell secrets!"

"You're such a little girl."

Natasha folds her arms as Clint rolls his eyes. "Just because I'm not your little boyfriend doesn't mean you can't talk to me. Tell me all the dirty little secrets you two have," he whispers conspiratorially, clasping his hands together and leaning towards her.

Natasha chuckles because this is what she and Clint do: antagonize and joke and fight. It's so comfortable, and it's nothing like she has with Steve. She's about to retort when Fury marches into the room, his shoulders tight and strides long. He looks pissed off and Natasha knows why: two members of their team are currently missing. He takes one look at the two assassins and, as if sensing their light mood, barks, "What are you two so happy about? We're missing Stark and Rogers, and it's not like I can ask Thor or Banner to help out on this mission, so we need them here. What is so _funny_?"

Natasha keeps her features schooled into an impassive look that even Fury can't decipher as Clint tries to hide his mirth. Fury is currently fuming and Natasha knows he doesn't want an answer. He's so high strung right now and he's not even pacing because Director Nick Fury doesn't _do_ pacing, but if he were a lesser man, Natasha imagines that he would be. His knuckles rap against the glass of the briefing room table, once, _twice_, before he glares at Natasha and Clint.

"Where are they?" As if they would know.

"I would imagine they're in Stark Tower, sir," says Clint with a hint of a laugh in his voice. Oh, how he loves it when other people are in trouble and not him. Natasha rolls her eyes. He's so juvenile sometimes; it's amazing he got this far as an assassin.

Fury glares at him, and Clint stops smirking. Ignoring Clint, he says, "I expected something like this from Stark, but Rogers is a soldier. He knows how to take orders, and I told him fifteen minutes. That was _thirty-seven_ minutes ago."

"Maybe he got lost."

Natasha shakes her head. _What an idiot_.

Fury leans back. "Is this seriously funny to you, Agent Barton? Rogers and Romanoff are expected to deploy in two hours, and I still have not briefed Stark on his part in the mission. Do you expect this to go well without them?"

"No, sir."

"Sir, Stark may be immersed in an experiment," Natasha says, "Maybe I should go and check it out."

"No, Romanoff, I'm not wasting another agent on that egotistical imbecile in a metal suit. Hill! I want a status report!" he finishes with a yell into the intercom.

There's a second's pause before Maria Hill answers, "Sir, I'm putting something on your viewing screen right now . . . I think you should see this."

Fury and the assassins are silent as footage of Stark Tower comes into view. There are two Blackhawk helicopters surrounding it, and it looks as though two figures are being hauled into it. The camera focuses and Natasha can make out Steve's mop of blond hair and Tony's crazy facial hair. Natasha's heart beats faster as she watches the helicopters fly away before disappearing into the clouds.

That was Steve. Steve is gone – well, Stark is too, but she hates him – and she can't even tell which direction they went in. He's gone, and they hardly even said goodbye this morning. _Do not get emotional_, she thinks. But it's hard. This is _Steve_. Their leader. Without him, they're nothing. And Stark is important in his own way, but he doesn't share a bed with her.

She's got to get him back.

Natasha turns from the screen to find the Fury is fuming. His grip on the armrests of his chair is so tight that Natasha is surprised that the metal isn't bending. "When was this footage taken?"

"Ten minutes ago, sir." Hill's voice, normally so assured, now sounds shaky.

"Ten minutes ago," Fury repeats. His voice raises in volume as he all but shouts, "This was taken ten minutes ago and no one thought to tell me? What kind of organization do I run? No, don't answer that Barton!" he shouts when Clint opens his mouth. "Where the hell are they? I'm assuming you sent a tail, didn't you, _Agent Hill_?"

"That's the thing. The helicopters disappeared."

_Oh, _Natasha thinks,_ This is not going to be good_.

"What do you mean it _disappeared_?"

"I mean that it must have a cloaking device because it's gone. It didn't even leave a trace."

Fury cuts of the intercom and stands once more. Natasha knows this is bad. They're without two of the most visible members of their team, one of them being their leader. She and Clint rise, and he looks them both in the eye.

"I'm contacting Thor and Banner. Prepare to assemble the Avengers. We're going to find them, and when we do, I'm going to _kill_ that idiot Stark for being late to every meeting we've ever had."

She and Clint leave and head for the locker rooms. It looks like they have something worth avenging.

* * *

Tony wakes up to a brightly lit room with metal walls. His head is killing him, and he winces as he touches his eye where his gauntlet had hit him earlier. His eye must be bruising. Great. He's been freaking kidnapped by a guy sporting a poor imitation of his own facial hair, and now he's got a black eye to go with it.

Whoop-dee-doo.

The sad part is that the guys never even touched him. They just threatened to cut Steve's head off to get Tony to comply, which he did, and then they tied them up and hauled them off into some helicopter. They eventually landed and led them into some decrepit building somewhere and tossed them in this room. They must have been here long, because Tony dozed off. He can feel the drool drying on his chin. God, what a mess of a day.

Tony looks up to find that Steve is awake, and it looks like he never got any sleep. His clothes are wrinkled, and he doesn't look twenty-two anymore, he looks ninety. His expressionless face is turned profile towards him, as if Steve is pointedly not looking at him. Tony inwardly sighs. He knows Steve is pissed at him, that he could probably have put up a good fight, but Tony _knows_ that he made the right call. Steve would have been killed.

"Stop staring at me."

Tony blinks. "Sorry."

Steve snorts. "You're sorry. Wow. I never thought I'd hear that." He doesn't sound sarcastic or mean, just tired. Good. Maybe he wasn't too pissed.

"Well don't think it'll become a regular occurrence. It wears down the 'wow-factor' of it."

Steve shakes his head. Tony can't tell what he is thinking, and it bothers him. Steve must have been taking lessons from Romanoff. "You know, those bonds were so flimsy, it would have taken me a second to get out of them."

". . .Good for you?"

Steve shakes his head again, and looks at him. Really looks at him. "Don't you think it's a little strange that a bunch of regular humans were able to capture us? I mean, you're Ironman. Didn't they think it would be kind of difficult to capture you?"

"Too right you are," comes a voice and Tony cringes as he hears the metal door open. He looks up to see the man with the goatee waltz in, flanked by a woman with blonde hair and a yellow jumpsuit on and a black man with daggers in both hands. Tony smirks. _As though blades are that intimidating_. "But I had some insurance that you wouldn't slip away from us."

"Who the fuck are _you_?" Tony asks.

Goatee man smiles. "Why, Mr. Stark and friend, I am Tod Radcliffe, Director of S.T.R.I.K.E."

He motions to his lackeys. The man comes up and hauls Steve to his feet, pressing one of his blades to his back. Before Tony notices, the woman is behind him, pointing a gun at him. _How the hell did she get here so fast?_

Tony's lost. "What's S.T.R.I.K.E.? Some secret bowling organization or something? Need my money for a new lane? All you had to do was ask."

"Stark, shut up," bites out Steve. Tony sees that Rogers is struggling not to let the knife touch him. That's strange – Steve wasn't afraid of getting hurt.

Radcliffe tilts his head, pondering him and ignoring Steve. "No Mr. Stark, we are not a bowling organization. I am the head of one of the most secretive superhero organizations in the world, much like your own S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Then why don't you just talk to Nicky and we can get this whole thing straightened out."

"Because Nicholas Fury doesn't always have what I need right now."

"Which is?"

Radcliffe smiles again, and it's one of those menacing ones that Tony's ever seen on Loki before. Radcliffe comes and looks down his nose to stare into Tony's eyes. He looks somewhat familiar, like someone Pepper tells him that he _should_ know at one of his many parties, but has never actually taken the time to learn their name. Tony's wracking his brain trying to come up with a name to fit the face when Radcliffe's words stop him cold.

"I need the location of Captain America."


	2. Chapter 2

**Another chapter is up! Thanks again for all the reviews. So this one was really hard to write because I've never actually written anything with Steve's point of view, but hopefully it turned out well. See if you recognize any Marvel characters before they're named!**

Steve's blood runs cold. It wasn't Tony they wanted – it was _him_. This Radcliffe guy wanted _Steve_ and little did he know he already had Captain America in his clutches. Steve feels the knife pressed to his back, and even his stellar eyesight isn't enough to catch up to the woman with the blonde hair who suddenly has a gun pointed at the back of Tony's head. He instinctively knows that these aren't normal people.

These are superheroes.

They've been taken by their own.

Steve feels the grip on his arms tighten as Tony asks in disbelief, "Why do you want Captain America? You seem to have enough superheroes around you, why would you need America's patriot for England? Seems a bit greedy, don't you think?"

Trust Tony Stark to attempt to alleviate the situation with poorly misused humor.

Steve resists the urge to roll his eyes at Stark's unabashed nerve. He tenses as Radcliffe smirks at Stark. "It seems as though Nicholas really wasn't lying about how difficult you could be. No, Mr. Stark, I don't want to use Captain America for England. I want the Super Soldier Serum."

"You and everyone else," Tony snorts.

Steve doesn't find it funny. For all the projects that have been run to recreate the serum, none have actually ended well. Look at Bruce: he's a good guy and a trusted teammate, but no one can deny that the Other Guy is bad news when left to his own devices. Steve had countless samples of blood taken back in the forties for the sole purpose of trying to make the serum to create an army of Super Soldiers, and nothing worked. There have been many attempts over the past seventy years and _none have worked_. Either they haven't found the exact formula, or they haven't found the right _person_ for it. The person is the key. Steve knows that this won't end well.

The only problem is that he can't figure out how to get out of this place. He and Tony are stuck here, and Steve can't do anything about it without revealing his identity.

Steve tries to formulate a plan in his mind. He's always been a brilliant tactician, and it might help to calm his nerves. First things first: the guy wielding the knives behind him. His grip is tight, but not superhuman tight. That means no superhuman strength, and judging by the calm heart rate and the firm stance on the ground, it means he isn't lightening fast like the girl. But he must be pretty handy with a knife to be considered a superhero – he's most likely on par with Natasha, which will make it more difficult to take him down. The man could cut his spinal cord in a second. But luckily Natasha has been giving him lessons, so he should be able to avoid a major wound. Any wound he gets will heal anyway.

The next thing is the girl. She crossed the room in the blink of an eye, so Steve knows she'll be difficult to get past. But if he takes out Knives, then it might distract her enough for Tony to be of some help. Hopefully they can take her down together. But then that leaves Radcliffe, and Steve's not sure if he's superhuman or if he's normal – albeit scary and intimidating for sure – like Fury. The room is metal, sure, and there are no windows, but Steve can bend metal like no one's business. Ask Natasha after the mutant bird episode. He can bend the door, and then he and Stark would be out of their cell. But then there are the thousand or so other agents that must be in the building guarding them like hawks. Even if he and Tony manage to get away from the three in this room, they'll be taken by the others who will then be sure that Steve is Captain America and all of the pretending he's not who they're looking for would be for nothing. They would capture him and run the tests with or without Radcliffe, he's certain of that. For what reason, of that he's not so certain. But he knows they're trapped.

Hopelessly trapped.

"You're right, Mr. Stark," says Radcliffe, "Me and everyone else. However, I do not want the serum to create and army or anything similar. I simply want it to restore one of the most remarkable human beings that I have ever come across."

"Yeah, right, says the guy with an army of superheroes at his disposal."

"_Tony_," Steve cautions because, really, they don't know anything about this guy. How had they never heard about S.T.R.I.K.E. before now? Steve knows that Stark loves to antagonize the enemy to distract them, but this was a bit much.

For the first time since their capture, Radcliffe takes a good look at Steve. Steve refuses to shiver as the appraising eyes sweep over him because even though Captain America may be in hiding right now, Steve Rogers never backs down from anything. Steve glares coldly back, hinting with his eyes that he is not impressed with what he sees. It's his most intimidating look.

Clint taught him that one.

Radcliffe chuckles. "And who is your friend? I've never seen him on the cover of _US Weekly_," he mocks.

Steve is silent, unsure of what to say. He can't say he's Steve Rogers because if they really dig around, he's sure he'll pop up on some governmental or spy database and his cover will be blown. But Steve has never been good with lying on the spot, so he knows that if he invents a new name they'll see right through it and probably torture him or Tony for the information and his cover will be blown anyway. God, he would kill to be Natasha right now, with her constant ability to transform herself into whoever she wanted to be at that moment. He's just Steve Rogers, the scrawny artist, except that he _can't _be Steve Rogers because that would allow them to seize the Super Soldier Serum and all hell would break loose. The serum just doesn't work without Erskine. Steve is so _screwed_, it's unbelievable.

Steve looks at Tony, silently pleading for him to come up with something. After a moment, he supplies, "Brett Hendrick. He was a mall cop at Manhattan Mall, but he's now the acting Head of Security because Happy's on vacation."

Wow. That was elaborate. Steve had to hand it to Stark, he really was a genius.

"He's a little, young, yes?"

"Family friend."

Radcliffe's eyebrows raise, and Steve instantly knows that it was the wrong thing to say. Radcliffe nods slightly and suddenly a knife presses to the exposed flesh of Steve's throat. Steve struggles to get away from the tip of the razor sharp blade. He can't be cut. _He can't bleed_. If they cut him, he and Stark are goners. They'll know he's Captain America as soon as the cut starts to heal before their eyes.

_Think, Rogers, think!_

_ A distraction. I need a distraction._

"Who do you need the serum for," asks Steve a bit desperately, "if you don't plan to build an army?" He feels the grip on his arm tighten and pull him closer, so Steve allows himself to slam into the chest of the man behind him to keep up appearances. "You said you want to restore someone. Who is it?"

"That's classified until such time as Captain America appears," says Radcliffe coldly, as if Steve has struck a nerve.

Steve glances at Tony, and he sees the wheels turning in the other man's brain. Tony's trying to come up with a plan, he knows, but Steve simply _cannot find a way out_. _Time, _he thinks,_ I need more time_.

"Why's that?"

Radcliffe's narrows his eyes. "Good God, Blade, shut that idiot child up!"

Whoops. Wrong move.

The knife presses more firmly against his skin and Steve quiets. _Not enough time_. Steve stills himself to avoid accidentally cutting and exposing himself. Steve can't find a way out, so they just have to stall for S.H.I.E.L.D. to find them. They must know they were missing by now. They were supposed to deploy _hours_ ago. Hill's probably flying a plane right now, coming to rescue them (he hopes). Steve just has to avoid Blade's knife for a little while longer.

"Stark, _where is Captain America_?" Radcliffe asks. The woman behind Tony presses the gun into his hair and Tony winces. He sighs.

"I don't know." He looks pointedly at the ground.

"Really? The information that my agents have gathered indicates that the Captain resides in your tower. You don't have any clue as to where he might be?"

Tony looks up and is apparently thrown by the news. "How do you know that?"

"Come now. Do you think your precious S.H.I.E.L.D. is the only organization with spies? We know where he lives. We just need to know where he _is_."

Tony glares at the man, but his mouth twists into a smirk. "First of all, S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't precious to me. Second of all, I don't know where he is. I haven't seen him in a couple of hours. But my best guess is that he's probably rallying the Avengers to come and kick your sorry ass for taking me out of my own home."

"We're well prepared for that plan of action, Stark," says Radcliffe and Steve can almost feel the anticipated eye-roll that any normal person would issue Tony right now. He tilts his head and glares at Stark. "You're correct. You probably do not know where he is, but you can tell me _who_ he is, can't you?"

Tony doesn't even glance in Steve's direction as his eyes grow cold and he spits out, "That's something I'll _never_ tell you."

"Blade!" Radcliffe calls, his voice dark and raging.

The knife presses even more firmly against his throat until Steve feels the knife just barely slice his skin. It's tiny, a scratch really, nothing more than a long paper cut. But then he feels a few droplets of blood drip to soak his collar to his skin. Steve gasps, not out of pain, but because he knows that the gig is up. It's only a matter of time before Radcliffe realizes that he can heal insanely fast. But Radcliffe isn't paying attention to him. No, he's fixated on Tony, who seems to be the only one to realize what has happened. Tony's gaze rests upon Steve's neck, where Steve knows a pink line will already be fading. He looks shocked.

"Mr. Stark, do you need more motivation?"

Tony shakes his head slowly, but his eyes lock on Steve's. His eyes widen, and Steve gets his message of '_get moving!_' clearly enough. Steve gives an imperceptible nod and Tony immediately drops to the ground as Steve shrugs out of Blade's grasp. Using his momentum, he grabs Blade's wrist as he dodges one of the knives and picks the man up and tosses him clear across the room where he lands with a thud. He doesn't move.

The woman is moving now, moving so fast that Steve's eyes can hardly keep up with her. She's running all around the room trying to distract them so she can land a blow. He could really use his shield right now – if he tosses it right _now_, he'd hit her straight in the face. He waits until he's found a pattern in his movements and he nods to Tony, who kicks out his leg like a five year old and catches her in the thigh, knocking her off balance. Not very eloquent, but her gun flies out of her hand and Tony snags it before it hits the ground. He aims it at her and Steve turns around to face –

_BAM! BAM!_

The sound of gunfire fills the room but the only thing that fills Steve's mind is _thank God Stark still knows how to shoot_. But then sharp pain spreads from his belly and back, pain so bad that it takes his breath away. He looks down to find blood spreading rapidly from two holes in his abdomen. He's been shot. The pain brings him to his knees, and he grips the wounds trying to keep the blood from flowing out.

_God, we're screwed_.

He can hear Stark shouting something, but his voice isn't clear. Steve's vision blurs but he sees Radcliffe kneel before him, a gun held lazily in his hand. He grips Steve's chin and looks into his eyes. Steve can barely focus, but he won't look away. He gives Radcliffe his hardest glare that belies his internal strength. Except now Steve feels himself weakening and the blood flow is not stopping and his vision is tunneling, making it hard to maintain his balance and precarious grasp on consciousness. But he refuses to fall. He _will not_ fall. Radcliffe's fingers leave his chin and trail downward to ghost over what used to be a cut from Blade's knife.

And Steve knows that there's nothing there at all anymore, not even a pink line of healing skin.

Radcliffe smiles slowly.

"Why, hello, Captain America."

* * *

"_Calm down_?" comes a booming voice and Natasha sees Bruce flinch as the lighting flickers. She silently puts a hand on his arm to keep him calm. The Other Guy is of no use to them at the moment. "How do you expect me to _calm down_ when Anthony and Steven are missing? This is an outrage!"

Thor's here.

He enters the conference room looking positively enraged, Mjolnir clenched in one hand and his expression positively frightening. He looks like a bull that's been caged too long – he looks like Natasha on one hour of sleep. Oh, wait, she already has that one down. They're twins. Natasha has never seen Thor so angry before, not even when Loki went psycho and tried to take over a world that didn't belong to him. He looks like a father trying to protect his sons.

Good. He's ready then.

"Master Thor," a newly reinstated Jarvis interjects the demigod's tirade, "I believe that I speak for everyone when I say that while your rage is not unfounded, perhaps your energy would best be put into determining the location of Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers."

Thor takes a breath and visibly relaxes. He looks to the ceiling and says, "Man in the Walls, you are correct. Thank you for your words of wisdom."

"My pleasure, sir," replies Jarvis.

The remaining Avengers, Maria Hill, and some S.H.I.E.L.D. field agents are in Stark Tower combing over the crime scene to find some indication as to who took Steve and Tony. They've been there a while, and their first objective was to get Jarvis up and running. After an hour of tinkering and maneuvering and a little cursing, the tech agents still were unable to get Jarvis online. So Hill called in the only person she could think of: Pepper Potts. Natasha admired the way Pepper came up without a question and punched in a few codes and within a few minutes, the AI was greeting them apologetically. Pepper was calm, cool, and collected even though she must have been internally freaking out that Tony was gone. But she was helping the only way she could, and that seemed to be enough for her. Pepper left with a warning to keep her posted on any new developments, to which Jarvis happily replied that he would. He was a bit embarrassed about having been shut off by anyone other than Tony Stark himself.

Natasha and the others have been in Stark Tower for the past six hours that Jarvis has been running, trying to find a shred of evidence that would lead them to their teammates. Bruce returned from helping the poor of Uruguay an hour ago, and although his scientific expertise is invaluable in the areas of chemistry and physics, he is not a brilliant forensic scientist. So far they haven't found anything – not even a hair follicle – that will help them. And they've been at it for _six hours_. Six hours with nothing, nothing to use. Nothing to lead her to Steve. She lets her chest fill with emotion and worry for him – _What are they doing to him? Is he hurt? What do they want from him and Stark? _– before pushing all of those thoughts away. She needs to focus. She can't let her worry get in the way of her judgment. She lets Natasha Romanoff slip away as the Black Widow takes her place.

Thor looks determined to find his friends. "What is the plan?" The rest of the people in the conference room stare at him blankly. "You have _no plan_? Surely you know of the beings who have taken Anthony and Steven from us!"

"Sorry, Thor," says Clint sadly, "We have no freaking clue."

"What shall we do?"

"Jarvis, bring up the list of suspects again," orders Hill. She's sitting at a conference room table looking tired and just a bit overwhelmed. Natasha doesn't pity her. _ She_ was their handler; _she_ was supposed to make sure things like this didn't happen. And she only received footage of the attack a whole ten minutes after the attack. In the world of espionage, that's unheard of. Hill fucked up. Natasha has no sympathy for her.

Jarvis brings the list up without delay. "A _list_?" Thor asks loudly. "You expect to find our comrades through a list?"

"It's all we have," says Bruce.

Natasha mentally braces herself for the list. They've looked over the list countless times and still have not identified someone with a motive to take both Tony _and_ Steve. Of course, there is a possibility that the captors were only looking for one of them and just happened to stumble across both of them, but S.H.I.E.L.D. (and Natasha, for that matter) doesn't think that route is very likely. Anyone with the power to shut Jarvis down most likely has the resources to determine that Stark Tower regularly houses the Avengers whenever they're in the city. It's likely that some organization decided to exploit this and take two of the team's most high-profile members.

Allessandro Brannex, leader of A.I.M., pops up on the screen, and Natasha sighs. The man is the leader of a terrorist organization that is known to clash with Stark, but Natasha doesn't see it. Sure, A.I.M. may want Stark's brain for their weapon's development, but she can't see why they would want Steve. Maybe the organization's past affiliation with HYDRA? No. Her gut tells her no.

"Next," she says, bored.

Hill glares at her but doesn't complain when Jarvis brings up Helmut Zemo's photo. He is the son of the Cap's old nemesis, Heinrich Zemo. Now he would be a plausible person of interest if he had any affiliation to Tony Stark. But he doesn't. Plus, he's been keeping a low profile in Germany as far as S.H.I.E.L.D. knows. He's not their guy.

"Next."

The Mandarin comes on the screen and Natasha huffs. Tony defeated the Mandarin a _month ago_. "Why is he on here?"

"Someone else seems to have taken up the title," says Hill, slightly annoyed with her.

"Next."

Maria Hill turns her body away from the screen and towards Natasha. She levels her with a hard stare and asks, "Are you determined to undermine this investigation, Agent Romanoff?"

"No," says Natasha coldly. _How _dare_ she say that? _she thinks.

Hill nods. "Good. Jarvis, return to the Mandarin. It is entirely plausible that the new Mandarin has taken Stark and Rogers. Stark has just set up a new branch of his corporation where our agents have discovered that a man named Zhang Tong is his biggest rival. It has been brought to our attention that this man has assumed the title of the Mandarin and most likely is looking for a way to take revenge on Stark."

Bruce shakes his head. "No. The Mandarin's style is flashy and bold. This is anything but. Natasha's right - it's not him."

If Hill were a lesser woman, she would be burying her head in her hands and screaming. They've exhausted every lead they have and it must be incredibly frustrating to be in charge of finding two superheroes who were kidnapped by people in a helicopter that just up and disappeared. But Hill just says, "Try the next one" like nothing's wrong. It's about the only thing Natasha respects her for.

Another face pops up onto the screen but Clint shakes his head. "I think we're going about this the wrong way. Why don't we look at the security footage? It's better to have solid evidence than a shoestring theory."

"We've already exhausted all the footage. We haven't been able to see a single person on screen."

"Yeah, but I was up in the air ducts collecting evidence when you were watching those tapes," he says, grinning. "I've got pretty spectacular eyesight, if I do say so myself."

"You may not," says Hill shortly, but orders Jarvis to pull up the footage anyway.

So they begin the hours of video footage they have collected from Jarvis himself as well as all the surrounding buildings. Most of it is nothing: people walking past the building, all the interns leaving after Tony gave them the day off so he could focus on his new suit design, Steve entering from the roof. There's nothing there that's worth watching, nothing –

"There," says Clint, pointing to something on the screen. Well, _nothing_ on the screen really. Natasha looks and sees the puzzled expressions on Hill, Thor, and Bruce's faces. Clearly they didn't see anything either. "What you didn't see it?" he asks, looking annoyed. "Jarvis go back a few seconds and pause . . . there."

Natasha still doesn't see anything. "Clint –"

"Jarvis, zoom in on the door. Can you digitally enhance it or whatever the fuck Stark programmed you to do in order to make the quality better?"

"Yes, sir, I can although I disapprove of your phrasing," says Jarvis somewhat snippily.

Clint rolls his eyes as the image enlarges and then focuses. Natasha finds herself squinting until Banner lets out a gasp. "It's a woman."

It _is_ a woman, one with white-blonde hair and wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit. Even paused and digitally enhanced, her image is distorted so that they can't make out the features of her face. She's blurry, moving too fast for the camera to get a clear glimpse of her.

Which can only mean one thing.

Hill turns to one of the nameless agents at her side. "Get Director Fury on the phone. We're dealing with S.T.R.I.K.E." The agent nods and goes to get Fury on the phone.

"S.T.R.I.K.E.?" asks Clint. "What's S.T.R.I.K.E?"

Hill swallows. "It's an agency that's a lot like our own. We're dealing with superheroes here, not the villains."

* * *

Tony watches in horror as Steve sways dangerously. Forgetting about the girl who's still conscious, he crawls over to Steve and grips his shoulders, guiding him down to the floor. The bastard shot him from only a few feet away, and both wounds are through-and-through to the abdomen. They're bleeding a lot, and Steve seems to be losing consciousness. His eyes blink rapidly as Tony presses his hands to the wounds, trying to staunch the blood flow, but Steve doesn't cry out in pain. His eyes drift closed and he lays still, his head in Tony's lap.

There's so much blood, Tony wonders if one of the bullets nicked an artery or something. Tony only has two hands and there're four wounds and he _can't do anything_. He wants to kill Radcliffe. Suit or no suit, this guy is going down. Tony only has to look at Steve's pale face to get his mind to start formulating Radcliffe's painful, torturous demise. Steve unconsciously winces as Tony presses his hands more firmly on the worst bleed.

Tony's vision is nearly red with rage.

"Spitfire, contact medical," says Radcliffe, "The Captain appears to be in need of their attention."

Tony looks up, spitting out, "_Appears_? You asshole, you shot him! What the fuck?"

"He was escaping."

"So you _shot_ your only chance of getting the Super Soldier serum. You're insane."

"Don't be so dramatic, Stark. He'll heal quickly."

"Not if he bleeds out," Tony says darkly, "He's still _human_, for God's sake! He can die from this just like the rest of us!"

And Tony realizes that that's what shocks him the most. Captain America may seem invincible, but Steve Rogers is still just a man. He's the epitome of the human body perfected, yes, but he can still get hurt, he can still bleed, he can still _die_. He doesn't have super strength or flight or anything like that; he's just a man that has realizes all of human potential. He could still die from this.

He feels a breeze and Spitbitch comes back with a gurney. She helps him load Steve onto the stretcher as he hears the sound of medical personnel running down the hallway towards them. She presses her hand to one of the wounds, but Tony can't manage to thank her. Steve's blood is soaking the sheets.

The medics come in a moment later, and they're shouting things that Tony doesn't understand. They push his hands away, and all he hears is _surgery_ and _massive blood loss_ and suddenly Tony is following them to where their department must be. Radcliffe follows behind them, and he wants to punch him so badly but he can't because all he can focus on is the fact that his friend needs his help.

He can deal with Radcliffe later.

They finally get to the trauma center and people are grabbing him by the shoulders, forcing him back. "But . . ."

He doesn't get to finish before they wheel Steve away from him, leaving him alone with the guy who wants to kill them all.

Yet he just ordered his people to _save_ Steve.

Tony's head hurts.

"Stark," calls Radcliffe, studying him closely, "You're coming with me."

Tony wants to protest, but S.T.R.I.K.E. agents are grabbing him and manhandling him to follow Radcliffe into another room in the medbay. Tony thinks it's strange that they don't want to kill him or Steve. These are bad guys, the guys they normally fight. Yet they're saving Steve. Tony is so confused right now.

They enter a room close to the trauma center that's quiet with a single occupant lying on the bed. It's a male, and he looks a bit like Steve, with the same blond hair and broad shoulders. He's just a bit taller and has a lot less muscle mass than Steve. He's sleeping, but Tony only knows that because the heart monitor keeps beeping. In all honesty, the guy looks dead. And Tony still has no idea what he's doing in here.

Tony looks up to question Radcliffe when the man says quietly, "Mr. Stark, meet Brian Braddock. Or, as he's known around here, Captain Britain."

Tony raises his eyebrows. "Captain _Britain_?"

"You think America is the only country with a patriotic leader?" Radcliffe smirks, but it's a bit softer than his usual. He looks sad almost.

"What's he doing in here?" Because for the leader of patriotism or whatever, he looks pretty weak to Tony.

"Years ago, Brian received an amulet that gave him power – strength, speed, even flight – transforming him from a frail boy into a powerful beacon of hope for all of Britain. He's not unlike your own Captain. He provided great hope to Americans in the second World War."

The gears in Tony's mind begin to whir, and he says, "And he lost the amulet, so now you need Steve's blood to make this guy powerful again."

Radcliffe shakes his head. "He didn't lose the amulet – the amulet lost its power. He's been this way ever since Nick Fury ordered the tesseract to return to Asgard." At this, Tony is shocked. "What, you thought the tesseract only affected your part of the world? How very naive of you. The tesseract powers more things than you even know of, Stark. The tesseract powered his amulet, and now one of the most powerful people in the world has been reduced to _this_," Radcliffe says, gesturing to the frail form of Brian Braddock.

A lump forms in the back of Tony's throat. The man looks so much like Steve. Steve, who's in the other room being operated on because he was shot by their captor. Tony never thought he was capable of feeling all the emotions running through his system right now.

It's been a long day.

"So," he says roughly, "you want the serum to bring him back because of Fury's nearsightedness? Why wouldn't you just ask him to bring the tesseract back? It would've been a lot easier than forming a plan to take us from Stark Tower!"

"I tried that!" says Radcliffe heatedly, "But Nick refused. He said it was too dangerous, that there would always be a struggle for control of the damned thing, and he couldn't take the risk of creating another war over it. I knew we needed the serum to get Brian into some semblance of fighting shape, and I knew we needed Captain America to get the serum."

"You could have asked," says Tony dumbly.

Radcliffe lets out a laugh. "Do you really think Nicholas Fury would give up the most sought after formula this world has ever _seen_? He would never do that," he says darkly. "And do you know that it would be a step down for Brian to become like your Captain? Brian was nearly invincible while your friend Steve is simply a human. He has limits where Brian never did. But he is Brian's _only hope_. I didn't want this, but I took what I needed to ensure my agent's return." After a pause, he adds, "His last words to me were 'fix me'."

Tony doesn't say anything. He just feels angry at the universe for always dealing him the shitty cards, at Fury for sending away the tesseract, at Radcliffe for being a psycho with good intentions. At Steve for letting himself be injected with that goddamned serum that would give the rest of the world reason to hunt like an animal for the rest of his living days. At himself for not being able to do anything but stand by and watch as their lives are shaken before their very eyes.

Tony stares at Brian Braddock and can't help but feel resentment towards the man who never asked for any of this. Without Brian, Tony and Steve would be shutting down a weapons dealer in New York, not stuck in some sketchy lab with a crazy person. But picturing Steve on that gurney bleeding to death, Tony sort of understands Radcliffe.

Sort of.

Until he threatens, "And you're going to make sure I get what I need."

Tony looks up from Braddock, confused at the sudden change in the atmosphere. "Excuse me?"

"I'm going to find a way to extract the serum from your Captain's blood, and you are going to help me determine the limits of the serum so that I can compare them to how Brian is affected. I need to know if the serum works."

"How do you expect me to do that?"

The smile returns, twisting that hideous goatee into something truly frightening. "By continuing your father's work," says Radcliffe with a morbid laugh in his voice. "Didn't Howard tell you about the discontinued experiments they were supposed to conduct on the Captain?"

Tony's stomach tightens. His own _father_? His father was supposed to conduct experiments on a human being, one of his best friends; on Steve Rogers? The whole thing is sick and twisted and makes Tony hate the memory of his father even more than he already had. He can't perform tests on Steve like he's some stupid lab rat. He doesn't even test on animals at Stark Industries; he's a technology developer, for God's sake. He can't do this. It's too much.

Tony swallows. "And if I say no?"

"Your friend is currently in surgery to repair the extensive damage that the bullet wounds caused. It would be a real pity if one of my surgeon's hands slipped and accidentally cut his aorta."

"You wouldn't dare."

"You said it yourself, Stark: your friend is human. Do you really want to test me?"

Tony looks at him, at his smug face like he knows that he already won. To think he actually felt sorry for the man just a little while ago. The way Tony sees it, he has two options: let Steve die on the operating table of some godforsaken agency's medbay, or save Steve and subject him to innumerable unknown tests that very well might have the potential to kill him as well. He hates Radcliffe for doing this when he and Steve haven't even done anything wrong. Once again, Tony Stark is reminded that the world is not fair. That good people are sometimes forced to make bad decisions. His heart constricts, but he does the only thing he can do, the only thing he's been _able_ to do the entire day.

He accepts.


End file.
